William Openshaw
English cricketer and rugby union player (1852-1915)
William Edward Openshaw (5 February 1852 – 7 February 1915) was a rugby union international who represented England from 1879 to 1879.
Life
The son of W. Openshaw of Victoria Park, Manchester, he was educated at Harrow School. There he played in the Cricket XI in 1869, leaving in 1870. He became a merchant in Manchester.
Rugby union career
Openshaw played his club rugby for Manchester (then known as Manchester Football Club). Openshaw made his international debut on 24 March 1879 at The Oval in the England vs Ireland match in which he was on the winning side. He was described by contemporaries as a wonderful dribbler and took part in the second ever "Roses" match between Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Cricketing career
Openshaw played four first-class cricket matches for Lancashire from 1879 to 1882.
The public source identifies “William Openshaw” as english cricketer and rugby union player (1852-1915). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Openshaw and English.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8016355. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1852, 1915, 1879 and 1869.
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This entry incorporates text from “William Openshaw” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.